1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a light scanning system for deflecting a light beam from a light source by means of a deflecting device, thereby scanning a scanning plane.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, in a light scanning system using a deflecting device possessing a deflecting surface, such as rotating polygon mirror, various methods are known to prevent uneven pitches of scanning lines on the scanning plane even if the deflected and scanned light beam is changed within the plane perpendicular to the scanning plane due to tilting of the deflecting surface. For example, the light scanning systems disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Nos. 56-36622, 57-144516, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,750,189, 4,123,135 are comprised of a light source for producing a light beam collimated to a proper beam diameter, a first converging optical system comprised of a single flat convex cylindrical lens for converging the light beam to a linear image, a deflecting device having a deflecting surface near the converging position of the linear image, and a second converging optical system comprised of a single spherical lens and a single toric lens for converging the deflected light beam to a spot image on the scanning plane. The deflecting surface and the scanning plane are in a conjugate relation from geometrical optics within a plane perpendicular to the direction of scan, and the tilt of the deflecting surface is optically corrected, whereby uneven pitches of the scanning lines are corrected.
However, in the conventional light scanning systems, the aperture ratio is small, being 1:60 in the plane parallel to the direction of scan and 1:100 in the plane perpendicular to the direction of scan, and the spot diameter on the scanning plane of the light beam is about 100 .mu.m. Such corresponds to a resolution of only about 10 dots per 1 mm. To increase the aperture ratio while reducing the spot diameter, a sufficient aberration correction is needed. In the conventional light scanning system, the optical power in the plane perpendicular to the direction of scan of the second converging optical system must be strong in order to satisfy the conjugate relation from geometrical optics. Therefore, the spherical aberration in the plane perpendicular to the direction of scan is insufficiently corrected, and it is hard to increase the aperture ratio because the residual aberration is large, which is a great obstacle in enhancing the resolution.